Digital Commons Network^™

What's Happening: June, 2009, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Excessive Acquisition In Hoarding, Randy O. Frost, David F. Tolin, Gail Steketee, Kristin E. Fitch, Alexandra Selbo-Bruns

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Compulsive hoarding (the acquisition of and failure to discard large numbers of possessions) is associated with substantial health risk, impairment, and economic burden. However, little research has examined separate components of this definition, particularly excessive acquisition. The present study examined acquisition in hoarding. Participants, 878 self-identified with hoarding and 665 family informants (not matched to hoarding participants), completed an Internet survey. Among hoarding participants who met criteria for clinically significant hoarding, 61% met criteria for a diagnosis of compulsive buying and approximately 85% reported excessive acquisition. Family informants indicated that nearly 95% exhibited excessive acquisition. Those who acquired excessively had …

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Shane Bevell, Mamie Peers

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Contributions Of Supportive Relationships To Heart Failure Self-Care, Margaret Sebern, Barbara Riegel

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Supportive relationships are known to improve outcomes for persons with heart failure (HF). Supporters may do so by improving self-care, but little is known about the influence of supportive relationships on HF self-care.

The purpose of this study was to explore background characteristics associated with supportive relationships, and the contribution of supportive relationships to HF self-care. The construct of shared care was used to operationalize supportive relationships. Shared care refers to a system of interpersonal processes (communication, decision making, and reciprocity) used in close relationships to exchange support. A cross sectional design was employed recruiting 75 HF dyads.

Older patients …

Views About Health Of Russian-Americans Living In Central California, Mark Fiterman

Master's Projects

This quantitative research explored the health views of Russian-Americans to discover information about the health needs of this population. Data were collected via a demographic form and a tool, SF-36 Health Survey. 46 respondents participated and returned completed packets. Results were scored in eight scales representing two different groups of health measurement, physical health and mental health. The scores for each scale and group were compared to the nonn-based scoring for general U.S. population. The mean for the physical component summary (PCS) was 33.31, and the mean for the mental health summary (MCS) was 48.53 indicating that the physical health …

Depression Among The Elderly: Screening Practices And Attitudes Among Nurse Practitioners, Grace Le

Master's Projects

Purpose: To examine California's nurse practitioners' (NPs) screening practices and attitudes towards depression among the elderly using the Depression Attitude Questionnaire (DAQ) (Botega, Mann, Blizard, & Wilkinson, 1992). Data sources: One hundred and fifty NPs, selected randomly from the membership of the California Association of Nurse Practitioners (CANP), were surveyed with electronic mailed questionnaires. Seventy-five (50%) self-reported surveys were completed and analyzed. Results: The majority of NPs routinely screened for depression among the elderly. Most thought that life events were not important in the development of depression, held a positive view with pharmacological and psychological treatments of depression, and felt …

Leadership Approaches To Providing Quality Hiv Prevention Care For Older Adults

Florida Public Health Review

Americans continue to face risks associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). One population that receives little attention concerning HIV is that of older adults. Approximately 20% of all HIV cases are among adults aged 50 and older. Older adults and younger populations are at risk for HIV; however, few programs are in place to reduce the incidence of HIV among this priority population. Many cases of HIV among older adults go unnoticed because health care professionals perceive older adults as asexual. Many physicians and other health professionals, including health educators, are uncomfortable in discussing sexual histories with older adults, so …

Coordinating Care For People With Multiple Chronic Conditions: The Guided Care Model And Other Innovative Approaches, Judith D. Moore, Carol O'Shaughnessy

National Health Policy Forum

The Forum sponsored two site visits to explore the Johns Hopkins University's research and demonstration program on Guided Care, in April and August 2009. Guided Care is a patient-centered medical home model that uses an interdisciplinary approach to coordinating health care for older people with multiple chronic conditions. Guided Care nurses located in primary care practices work with Medicare patients on a long-term basis, coordinate their care among various providers, provide transitional care, and assist patients with self-management skills. Site visit participants learned about the complexities of caring for frail Medicare patients, some of whom see multiple physicians and other …

Defining Family: Naming, Orientation, And Redemption In The Case Of Terri Schiavo, M. Chad Mcbride, Karen L. Taas, Paige W. Toller

Communication Faculty Publications

This paper undertakes a detailed analysis of the Terri Schiavo case as it was covered in popular media. Drawing on Burkean theory, we argue a critical issue in the case was a struggle between Terri's parents and husband to be seen as the more legitimate family in order to determine the duration and extent of Terri 's medical care. We discuss how the private debate over Terri's health and the decision to remove her feeding tube entered into the public scenes of legal and political action. This shift to the public scene represented problems for the parties directly involved in …

Using Internet‐Based Vignette Methods To Understand Elder Residential Choices, Francis G. Caro, Teck Ho, Daniel Mcfadden, Alison Gottlieb, Christine Yee, Taizan Chan, Joachim Winter

Gerontology Institute Publications

This paper illustrates an innovative method of administering fractional factorial surveys (vignettes) using the internet. The approach makes it possible to use video clips to deliver information. The method also provides subjects with interactive options before making judgments. A study to determine the views of older people regarding residential options is used to illustrate the method. The study found that the following characteristics of vignette persons affected subject recommendations: personal introduction, functional status, social network, and current housing characteristics. However, characteristics of retirement community features and personal financial status did not affect recommendations.

Visual Impairment And Eye Care Among Older Americans: Secondary Analysis Of The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (Brfss), Amy L. Freeland

Dissertations

The aim of this three-paper format dissertation is to explore three topics relevant to public health and vision loss. The three papers are independent studies, yet build upon each other by first describing the population of people aged 40 years and older in the United States in terms of visual impairment, diagnosed eye disease/injury, and their use of eye care, and then next exploring the factors that influence eye care use for both the general population and the subpopulation of people with diagnosed diabetes. The first paper provides a state-level examination of the characteristics of people aged 40 years and …

The Emotional Experiences Of Family Carers In Huntington Disease, Bonnie L. Hennig

Articles - Patient Care

Aim

This paper is a report of a study conducted to examine the emotional experience of caregiving by family carers of people with Huntington disease and to describe strategies they used to deal with that experience.

Background

Huntington disease, commonly diagnosed in young to middle adulthood, is an inherited single gene disorder involving loss of cognitive, motor and neuropsychiatric function. Many family members become caregivers as well as continuing as parents and wage earners. The emotional aspects of caregiving contribute to mental health risks for family members.

Methods

Focus groups were conducted with 42 adult carers of people with Huntington …

Ethnic Differences In Trajectories Of Depressive Symptoms: Disadvantage In Family Background, High School Experiences, And Adult Characteristics, Katrina M. Walsemann, Gilbert C. Gee, Arline T. Geronimus

Faculty Publications

Although research investigating ethnic differences in mental health has increased in recent years, we know relatively little about how mental health trajectories vary across ethnic groups. Do these differences occur at certain ages, but not others? We investigate variations in trajectories of depressive symptoms, and examine the extent to which disadvantages in family background, high school experiences, and adult characteristics explain these differences. Employing random-coefficient modeling using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that blacks and Hispanics experience higher symptom levels in early adulthood in comparison to whites, but equivalent levels by middle-age. Ethnic differences remained in early …

What Matters, And What Matters Most, For Change In Life Satisfaction In The Oldest-Old? A Study Over 6 Years Among Individuals 80+, Anne Ingeborg Berg, Lesa Hoffman, Linda Björk Hassing, Gerald M. Mcclearn, Boo Johansson

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objectives: The study investigates whether markers of life satisfaction identified in a cross-sectional study – quality of social network, self-rated health, depressive symptoms, locus of control and widowhood, in addition to financial satisfaction and the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism - predict change in life satisfaction (LSI-Z) across four measurement occasions during a 6-year period in individuals aged 80+. Method: Data were drawn from the Swedish OCTO-Twin-study of individuals aged 80 and older. Results: Growth curve analysis showed a relatively consistent significant linear decline in life satisfaction, but certain markers predicted change in life satisfaction. The …

Age-Related Differences In Reaction Time Task Performance In Young Children, Sergey Kiselev, Kimberly A. Espy, Tiffany Sheffield

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty Publications

Performance of reaction time (RT) tasks was investigated in young children and adults to test the hypothesis that age-related differences in processing speed supersede a “global” mechanism and are a function of specific differences in task demands and processing requirements. The sample consisted of 54 4-year-olds, 53 5-year-olds, 59 6-year-olds, and 35 adults from Russia. Using the regression approach pioneered by Brinley and the transformation method proposed by Madden and colleagues and Ridderinkhoff and van der Molen, age-related differences in processing speed differed among RT tasks with varying demands. In particular, RTs differed between children and adults on tasks that …

Validity Testing The Outcomes And Assessment Information Set (Oasis), Richard H. Fortinsky

UCHC Articles - Research

This study evaluated the criterion validity of the Outcome and Assessment Instrument Set (OASIS) items that measure activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), cognitive functioning, and depression. A convenience sample of patients (n = 203) from five home care agencies participated in the study. Patient OASIS items were compared to data collected using gold standard instruments. Correlations range from .44 to .69 for ADLs and .20 to .68 for IADLs. A correlation of .62 was found for cognitive functioning while correlations for depressive symptoms are .36 and .26. OASIS ADLs and cognitive status items are …

Blanche Dubois Geriatrics, Edward F. Ansello

Director's Editorials from Age in Action

While the numbers of older adults are growing and the leading edge of the Baby Boom is in its 60s, aging-related education, service, and practice are far from burgeoning. We look forward to continuing Virginia's Geriatric Training and Education program, which produces geriatrically or gerontologically trained physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, recreators, and social workers.

My Passage To India, Edward F. Ansello

Director's Editorials from Age in Action

Different cultures select different "colors" from the curriculum palette in painting the experience of aging as they see it. Aging is a construct, experienced amid and influenced by the norms, limitations, expectations, and horizons around us.

Virginia's Money Follows The Person Demonstration, Jason A. Rachel, Karen Lawson

Case Studies from Age in Action

Educational Objectives

1. Describe Virginia's Money Follows the Person Demonstration project, including the new services available to individuals through Virginia's Medicaid-funded home and community-based waiver program.

2. Explain how Virginia's Money Follows the Person Demonstration project, being administered by the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS), would assist an individual in transitioning from a long-term care facility to the community.

3. Illustrate how someone might experience the MFP processes from pre-transition through post-transition.

Videoing As A Teaching And Learning Tool In An Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum, Selma Alliex, Karen Clark-Burg, Annie Das

Nursing Conference Papers

This conference addressed a range of critically important themes related to nursing education. It was designed to bring together nursing educators from across the globe, who are proactive in providing innovative educational practice to meet the changing needs of nursing; nursing students and healthcare personnel.

Occupational Therapy Program 2009, Nova Southeastern University

Health Professions Divisions Course Catalogs and Course Descriptions

No abstract provided.

Caring Minds, University Of Texas Health Science Center At Houston School Of Nursing

Caring Minds

• Honoring a Leader
• 25th Anniversary Symposium
• Four Investments in Innovation
• --Accelerated Ph.D. Campaign
• --House Bill 4471 Aids Nursing
• --“Pacesetter” Model
• --John S. Dunn Research Foundation Gift
• Fabulous from the Start
• PARTNERS Luncheon
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow
• Alumni News
• Faculty Scholarship

The School Nurse's Perception Of Health Promotion Behavior, Susan Bullard Furr

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

This was a descriptive study that assessed school nurses' perceptions of health-promoting behavior. A sample of 33 school nurses was asked to complete the Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) to measure their health-promoting lifestyle. The HPLP-II is a Likert-styled instrument that consists of 52 items divided among six subscales. The six subscales are: (1) health responsibility; (2) physical activity; (3) nutrition; (4) interpersonal relations; (5) spiritual growth and; (6) stress management. The findings indicated that the nurses perceived interpersonal relationships and spiritual growth to be components of their health-promoting behavior as evidenced by higher mean scores in those two …

Substance Abuse Among The Aging Population: A Needs Assessment, Stephen Michael Clark

Theses Digitization Project

This needs assessment was composed of 33 clinicians' in Riverside and San Bernardino counties that work in the substance abuse field. This study was developed to test if there is a need to increase clinicians' knowledge level base when working with older adults age 65 plus with a substance abuse problem. This needs assessment looked at demographics and tested the differences between self reported knowledge and what instruments their agencies are currently using.

Pilot Community-Based Intervention To Address The Needs Of Elderly Caregivers In The Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, Priscilla Reddy, Shegs James, H. Mutumba Bilay-Boon, Eka Esu-Williams, Hena Khan

HIV and AIDS

The HIV epidemic in South Africa has placed a substantial burden on elderly caregivers, mainly women, who are often tasked with caring for their grandchildren who are orphaned and rendered vulnerable by the death or illness of their parents. The Medical Research Council (MRC), Age-in-Action, and the Horizons Program conducted formative research, as described in this research summary, to assess the needs of elderly caregivers in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa in 2005. The investigations revealed that elderly caregivers faced a number of challenges including difficulty communicating with youth, fears and a sense of hopelessness around matters regarding …

Student Stress And Academic Performance: Home Hospital Program, Carolyn B. Yucha, Susan Kowalski, Chad L. Cross

Nursing Faculty Research

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether nursing students assigned to a home hospital experience less stress and improved academic performance. Students were assigned to a home hospital clinical placement (n = 78) or a control clinical placement (n = 79). Stress was measured using the Student Nurse Stress Index (SNSI) and Spielberger’s State Anxiety Inventory. Academic performance included score on the RN CAT, a standardized mock NCLEX-RN®-type test; nursing grade point average; and first attempt pass-fail on the NCLEX-RN. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups for age, gender, marital status, ethnicity, or score …

The Experience Of African American Hospice Patient/Family With Board Certified Music Therapy As A Component Of Their Plan Of Care, Elizabeth Joy Gifford

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

No Abstract Available

Campus Renewal - A 10-Year Road Map For Loma Linda University, Loma Linda University

Scope

In this issue . . .

2 | Campus renewal
A 10-year road map for Loma Linda University

6 | Renewal of the health care campuses
A long-range plan for Loma Linda’s health care institutions

8 | On the front lines in Iraq
An LLU alumnus serves in the line of fire

12 | Child philanthropist
Savannah Edwards raises funds for children with cancer

15 | Unlikely advocate for victims of AIDS
A transformed Victorian dispenses hope in the age of AIDS

17 | Snakes alive!
Snake wrangling in the name of science— and adventure

20 | Guests with a …

Late Life Depression With Cognitive Impairment: Evaluation And Treatment, Consuelo H. Wilkins, Jose Mathews, Yvette I. Sheline

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Organizational Learning And Nursing Home Quality Of Care In New York State, Ting-Wei Chiang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The primary purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and nursing home quality of care (NHQC). The present study addresses OL through both descriptive and prescriptive approaches. The descriptive approach proposes a prism model that defines OL from psychological perspectives, structural perspectives, and cultural perspectives. The prescriptive approach illustrates how each dimension of OL can be improved by its corresponding organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs).